Often during the course of travel a driver, and/or other vehicle occupants, may desire a refreshment or travel aid. The driver must detour the vehicle into a rest stop or a road-side business and, in most cases, must also park and exit the vehicle to obtain a refreshment. For instance, although conventional vending machines are commonplace at travel stops and are also easy-to-use, they are designed for the pedestrian customer and cannot be accessed by the driver from within a vehicle. Some businesses, such as fast-food restaurants, may dispense their products through a drive-through window service wherein an employee takes the order, accepts the payment, and delivers the goods. However, despite the use of advance ordering techniques, these employee-intensive transactions, when combined with the cost and complexity of a typical order, are time-consuming. As a result, a driver seeking a simple refreshment during travel must suffer either an inconvenience or a travel delay, and sometimes both.
Therefore, what is needed is a system to provide the driver, and other vehicle occupants, with a quick and convenient means for purchasing refreshments and other basic consumer products for use in the course of travel. Such a system should operate under the constraints of traffic safety, space limitations, driver interfacing, and high vehicle volume and throughput.